Bugatti unveils the ultimate roadster – the W16 Mistral

This is Bugatti’s $5 million W16 Mistral, the roadster to end all roadsters. 

The Mistral – which is a swansong to the W16 – will offer performance unlike any open-top car that’s come before it. 

“For the final roadgoing appearance of Bugatti’s legendary W16 engine, we knew we had to create a roadster,” Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac said.

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The W16 debuts in colors inspired by the 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid – warm black with hints of truffle brown and yellow accents. 

It’s also an homage to Ettore Bugatti who chose the black and yellow combination for his personal cars including his Type 41 Royale. 

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For the brand new Mistral, designers took other elements from the Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid including the V-shaped windscreen and side windows which flow around the side air intakes. 

But designers also gave the Mistral its very own character. 

For starters, it’s reengineered and reshaped to create a more rounded silhouette.

It also has new vertically stacked headlights and a deeper and wider horseshoe grille. 

Bugatti Deputy Design Director Frank Heyl said the headlights were “intricately shaped, incorporating a four-light signature that subtly nods to the W16 Mistral’s four-wheel-drive and four turbochargers”. 

Bugatti W16 Mistral interior 

The roadster interior takes its design queues from the Chiron. 

The cabin is finished with advanced lightweight titanium, aluminum components and blemish-free leathers. 

There are also brand new design flourishes including intricate woven leather on the newly designed door panels. 

And the gear shifter is machined from a solid block of aluminum. 

It also features Rembrandt Bugatti’s famous ‘dancing elephant’ sculpture. 

Name inspiration

Rimac said the name was taken from a powerful wind that blows from the Rhône River valley, through southern France, and into the Mediterranean.

Engine

The W16 Mistral will churn out an incredible 1,600 PS (1578 hp). 

It makes use of the same power unit that propelled the Chiron Super Sport 300+ to a world record-breaking speed of 304mph (489km/h) in 2019.

Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac has described his union of the roadster format with a W16 powertrain as “absolute perfection”. 

“With the roof removed, and a pair of large air intakes directly behind your head feeding around 70,000 liters of air through the engine every minute at full bore, driving the W16 Mistral connects you to the intricate workings of this revolutionary powertrain like no other Bugatti to date,” he said. 

Bugatti will build just 99 examples of the W16 Mistral, each priced at €5 million, which is just over $5 million USD. 

Deliveries begin in 2024, but every single one is already sold to existing Bugatti customers.

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